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He stares at me and smiles. “Come. Come learn some of my secrets. I guess you deserve that. Silence in the forest, though.”
With our fingers entwined, he pulls me away from those houses, away from the river, towards a mysterious place where I might find a hint about my past—the past I’ve never tried to face.
The rustle of leaves and twigs cracking under my feet compete with my anxious heart as we walk in a thin trail in the forest.
What does a Tiurian sanctuary entail? Master Andrezza would certainly tell me it’s a place where evil beings commune with evil spirits, and for years I let those words enter my ears and pass through my head without any filter, fearing the pain in recognizing the truth, or perhaps the danger in challenging those words. Of course, an old, abandoned sanctuary won’t give me any answers. It won’t tell me if they drank blood or murdered children.
Astra. I hear that voice again—and sense no malice in it. But I could be wrong. Then again, if Marlak has been to many Tiurian sanctuaries before, and if he’s taking me to one, it’s probably safe. The weight of Dusklight comforts me for some reason, even though I can’t yet fight with it properly.
The truth is that Marlak’s presence also calms me, not only because he can defeat most threats. I guess being with him makes me feel at ease, comfortable; it gives me the courage to peer into this window into my people’s past.
My people. I feel a shiver down my spine. I don’t know if it’s fear, anticipation, or something awakening.
Or maybe I’m being silly, making such a fuss for what is probably just some abandoned ruins. Abandoned Tiurian ruins—which I never even knew existed.
And yet I still feel that voice calling me.
We’re deep in the trail, surrounded by thick vegetation, when Marlak stops and crouches, then touches the ground near the roots of an enormous fig tree.
I crouch beside him and whisper, “Looking for the sanctuary?”
He nods. “I need to find the markings.”
I think I know where the sanctuary is, except that I might be mistaken, and then perhaps I’ll reveal more than I should. Well, it’s time to stop hiding things. “I think I know where it is.” He stares at me, his eyes wide, and I add, “I feel it calling me.”
“Where?”
I sense it further down, near the trail, and point in that direction.
He gets up. “Guide me, then.”
We walk some more steps, and then I understand his confusion, as we’re by another fig tree, this one gigantic. The place calling me is near the trail, but further down, buried amongst the exuberant vegetation.
Marlak points in the exact direction I feel calling me. “There?”
I nod, even if I’m still unsure why I can find it. He walks ahead of me, in a thin, almost imperceptible trail, enough that we can move amongst such thick vegetation, in a forest so dense I fear it could swallow us if it wanted.
We come to a huge stone, standing out against the forest around it. I feel that this is the place, and yet I don’t know how a sanctuary can be here. Right as I think that, Marlak closes his eyes, as if concentrating, and then the stone detaches from the ground and floats, revealing a thin staircase underneath it.
“Go ahead,” he says.
I try to do it as soon as possible, fearing that the stone could fall over us. I wonder what magic he’s using, since I can’t sense any wind or strong air current. Marlak descends after me, then I hear a loud thud, and we’re immersed in darkness.
“Keep going,” he whispers, then ignites a lightstone behind me.
I descend slowly, stepping on my elongated shadow on the narrow stone stairs, until I find myself in an underground chamber. The bluish light illuminates the exact same place I saw earlier, the place I must have glimpsed in his thoughts, the place that called me.
It’s odd how Marlak’s tiny light can illuminate so much of the sanctuary. Everything is more vivid than I imagined, the columns thicker, the ceiling higher, all made of some granite or other stone. On the ceiling there are many huge, long crystals forming a strange circular structure.
There’s a dais or stage in the front, and several niches on the sides, covered with something soft, like cushions, reminding me a little of the Court of Bees castle, with those beds in nooks. I’m still not sure what kind of place this was or what they did here, even though it feels familiar.
Marlak stands beside me and asks, “How did you know it was here?” He’s no longer whispering, and I’m surprised his voice doesn’t echo.
I turn to look at his face, even more striking in the bluish light.
“I… truly don’t know. A hunch. I’m surprised, too.”
He stares at me. “You need to develop your magic, Astra. Whatever it is that made you sense this place, it might be useful. You don’t know when you might need it.”
